1879 Attorney General General Election Results

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Data for this Contest was Contributed by on 2024-01-08

Attorney General
Candidate

Political
Party

Popular Vote

Augustus L. Hart

Republican

66,937

41.93%

Charles W. Cross

Workingmen's

40,628

25.45%

Joseph Hamilton

Democratic

28,944

18.13%

David S. Terry

New Constitution

23,079

14.46%

Scattering

0.02%

Turnout

Maps

$Per Vote Workingmen\'s Button$

Election Notes:

The microfilmed records at the State Archives in Sacramento do not contain a single statewide canvass for the election of 1879. The figures are drawn from the individual county returns, except for San Francisco, which is not included on the microfilm. The City and County of San Francisco took over a month to county its votes in 1879; the figures were ultimately reported in the 10/6/1879 Daily Alta California and that is the source for San Francisco's vote. Once San Francisco completed its count, the statewide canvass commenced and the totals were reported in various newspapers throughout the state; for instance, the 10/20/1879 Sacramento Daily Record-Union. The county totals for Hart add up correctly, but none of the other candidates' figures do. The sum of the county figures is Hamilton 28,944, Cross 41,328, Terry 23,019, and Scattering 53.
Candidates' party affiliations sourced from 9/3/1879 Daily Morning Times (of San Jose) and 9/1/1879 Sacramento Daily Record-Union. Cross declined the New Constitution Part's nomination so Terry was nominated instead.

Election Data and Statistics:

Election Tools

Data Sources:

Source for Popular Vote data: California State Archives, "Attorney General," Abstract Statement of the Vote of California, polled at the General Election, held September 3d, A.D. 1879 (Sacramento, 1879)

Results for and Individual County: